What is This About???

Mind the gap.”  If you’ve ever used London’s Underground, you’ll have heard this repeated phrase whenever you enter or exit a subway car, reminding you to take care as you step on or off the car not to fall in the crack between it and the platform.  You may also have heard that phrase in London’s Gatwick or Heathrow Airports at the end of moving walkways – those long conveyor belts for people – warning people about the space between the moving and stationary walkways, so they know to start walking or shift their pace to avoid falling.  “Mind the gap.”  Pause.  “Mind the gap.”  After a while it can get stuck in your head.  “Mind the gap.”. . .

One of my passions, for many years, has been to find ways to spend more time in other countries and cultures.  My motivation in this direction stems from a number of different areas and has grown over time.  I’ve been interested in experiencing other cultures since my first trip to Tanzania in 1987 when I “dove into the deep end” and lived for a month with people who have never seen anyone as white as me before.  I have found it very good for my mental health and general peace of mind to take occasional breaks from the pressures of some overemphasized aspects  of U.S. culture and take time to recenter myself around my own priorities, satisfy my urge to study new things and experience people living with different worldviews, break old habits and get out of ruts, and generally just slow down a bit.

When I met Laura, she certainly had different experiences than me, but she seemed interested in pursuing a similar path.  We would talk a lot about various models for living, most of which were a step or two away from the norm in the U.S.  I started looking in earnest at possibilities for spending longer periods of time abroad and living a little more simply when we’re home.

A couple years ago Laura’s parents became ill and we decided to pretty much drop everything to help care for them.  We are both glad we stepped into that caretaking role and grateful for the time we were able to spend with them.  In fact we both want our life to be oriented in such a way as to be able to support our friends and family when they are in need.  But it did put the brakes on our “international exploits”, and if you know how slow and deliberate I tend to be, that’s saying a lot. . .

Laura’s parents both passed over a year ago now, and we find ourselves free to explore again.  But rather than pick up where we left off, we’ve decided to take a year off and spend time exploring possibilities for our future, strengthening some relationships, and taking a few tastes of what life may be like for us in another 7-8 years.  With a little financial help left to us by Laura’s parents, we are taking a gap year – Laura leaving her job at CaringBridge and me keeping very few clients – and we will be spending most of that time together and away from home.  A year with almost no income will be a bit of a challenge, but we both feel it’s worth the investment.

We’ve made several plans for the year – some specific, some less so.  But each a bit longer than is easily achievable when working full-time.  Throughout the year we will hop one of life’s moving walkways and see where it takes us.  When we get to the end of one adventure, we may return home for a short time or step right onto the next one – and we’ll do our best to consider how that experience has changed us.  Regardless, as we transition from one path to another, we’ll be sure to mind the gap.

Peace,

-Paul